Waiting for OZ

13 March 2016

To read wisely into the F.1 testing results in Barcelona, you’ve got to be a pretty good clairvoyant. And no matter how detailed your prediction is gonna be, many are the question marks still standing.

Is the new Ferrari quick enough to beat the Mercedes? Have the Sliver Stars kept all of their secrets and renewed potential hidden away? Is Lewis still the man to beat? Is everyone else in the field so far away from Mercedes and Ferrari?..and so on..

I make no predictions and no attempts to give answers to the many queries I have been asked on this subject as it will all be revealed in one week’s time in Melbourne during the first round of the 2016 Formula One Championship.

My business nature is to think positive and my Italian nature makes me hope for a very competitive Ferrari; both natures combined tell me that we are going to see a more exciting fight at the top this year. Warm water was invented in F.1 long time ago and for this reason I believe there is no room for miracles. It is quite simple: You build a championship winning car and keep on developing it until the design rules change. Look at the past 20 years, it happened to McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull and now Mercedes. Formula One goes round and round in cycles and winning cycles last as long as the design rules do.

How can Mercedes screw up their good work and suddenly lose their edge I don’t know. I only know that Ferrari have made a giant-enormous step to close the gap. It remains to be seen if the development work made by Mercedes is smaller or not than Ferrari’s leap forward. The result of this equation is the answer to the dilemma.

Behind Silver and Red the surprise will be Toro Rosso, and I would put my money behind this claim. They have a great combination of car and drivers and they are now equipped with last year’s Ferrari engine which is still quicker than the 2016 Renault. For this, third step on the podium will be a close fight between the Faenza boys, Williams, Red Bull and Force India…a spectacular mid field show !!!